A Duluth pack, or portage pack, is a traditional piece of luggage

Luggage

Baggage is any number of bags, cases and containers which hold a traveller's articles during transit.Luggage is more or less the same concept as "baggage", but is normally used in relation to the personal luggage of a specific person or persons Baggage is any number of bags, cases and containers...

 used in canoe

Canoe

A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...

 travel, particularly in the Boundary Waters

Boundary Waters

The Boundary Waters — also called the Quetico-Superior country — is a region of wilderness straddling the Canada–United States border between Ontario and Minnesota, in the region just west of Lake Superior. This region is part of the Superior National Forest in northeastern Minnesota, and in Canada...

 region of northern Minnesota

Minnesota

Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...

 and Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

. A specialized type of backpack

Backpack

A backpack is, in its simplest form, a cloth sack carried on one's back and secured with two straps that go over the shoulders, but there can be exceptions...

, Duluth packs are made of either heavy canvas

Canvas

Canvas is an extremely heavy-duty plain-woven fabric used for making sails, tents, marquees, backpacks, and other items for which sturdiness is required. It is also popularly used by artists as a painting surface, typically stretched across a wooden frame...

 or nylon

Nylon

Nylon is a generic designation for a family of synthetic polymers known generically as polyamides, first produced on February 28, 1935, by Wallace Carothers at DuPont's research facility at the DuPont Experimental Station...

, and are approximately square in order to fit easily in the bottom of a canoe. These packs are portage

Portage

Portage or portaging refers to the practice of carrying watercraft or cargo over land to avoid river obstacles, or between two bodies of water. A place where this carrying occurs is also called a portage; a person doing the carrying is called a porter.The English word portage is derived from the...

d, along with the canoe, between lakes on wilderness

Wilderness

Wilderness or wildland is a natural environment on Earth that has not been significantly modified by human activity. It may also be defined as: "The most intact, undisturbed wild natural areas left on our planet—those last truly wild places that humans do not control and have not developed with...

 canoe trips

Canoe camping

Canoe camping is a combination of canoeing and camping. It is similar to backpacking, but canoe campers travel by canoes or kayaks...

. Designed in the early 1880s, Duluth packs have changed little since they were first introduced. Duluth pack is a brand name of the Duluth Tent and Awning Co., although it is commonly used to refer to any packs of the same style.

The typical Duluth pack consists of a single large compartment which is closed by strap

Strap

A strap, sometimes also called strop, is an elongated flap or ribbon, usually of fabric or leather.Thin straps are used as part of clothing or baggage, or bedding such as a sleeping bag. See for example spaghetti strap, shoulder strap...

s and buckle

Buckle

The buckle or clasp is a device used for fastening two loose ends, with one end attached to it and the other held by a catch in a secure but adjustable manner. Usually overlooked and taken for granted, the invention of the buckle has been indispensable in securing two ends before the invention of...

s rather than a zipper

Zipper

A zipper is a commonly used device for temporarily joining two edges of fabric...

. The pack is carried by two shoulder straps, although some designs also include a waist belt, or a tumpline

Tumpline

/tump-lyne/A tumpline is a strap attached at both ends to a sack, backpack, or other luggage and used to carry the object by placing the strap over the top of the head. This utilizes the spine rather than the shoulders as standard backpack straps do...

 to be worn over the top of the head. They are made in several sizes, traditionally referred to by numbers (such as #2, #3, #3.5, and #4).

The Duluth pack is named after the city of Duluth, Minnesota

Duluth, Minnesota

Duluth is a port city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Saint Louis County. The fourth largest city in Minnesota, Duluth had a total population of 86,265 in the 2010 census. Duluth is also the second largest city that is located on Lake Superior after Thunder Bay, Ontario,...

, where they were invented.

External links

• Complete Guide to Portage Packs Canoeing.com Gear Guide: Portage Packs (commercial site)
• Duluth packs made by the Duluth Tent and Awning Co. (commercial site)
• The Duluth Pack Blog http://blog.duluthpack.com (commercial site)